James Madison once wrote, “If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands, they may appoint teachers in every state, county and parish, and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, everything, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.”

Please go back and reread that paragraph, then compare it to what has been happening over the past couple of years. The prescience of Madison in depicting the pitfalls that we would encounter is incredible. Yet he recognized, as did many of the founding fathers, the human frailty with which the country would be faced and could thus anticipate the debacle that might occur.

Several times in the past the idea of a national bank has been tried and, for one reason or another, either vetoed or allowed to go out of existence due to a time limit for enactment.

Yet those who wished to control the money supply of the United States kept at it until they finally succeeded in 1913 with the Federal Reserve System.

When it first began, the Federal Reserve was a private banking cartel with no government affiliation that was required to redeem its paper currency for gold. Later, the reserve was required to redeem its paper in silver.

Subsequently, in a very quiet and unannounced manner, it simply replaced the wording on its fiat money to make it “legal tender for all debts, public and private.” The scheme – and it cannot be called anything but that – was to make sure that the bankers who were part of the cabal never suffered a loss, since they could transfer it to the American taxpayers.

All of this is completely unconstitutional. There is nothing, not a word, in that document that authorizes congress to grant such power to a private organization. Quite the contrary, since only congress has the power to “coin money and regulate the value thereof” (Art. I, Sec. 8).

Next, “ … Appoint teachers in every state … ” Certainly this clause was anticipatory of our Department of Education, which has encroached massively on every state’s province by demanding certain standards, student body composition, courses and more. Federal contributions to each state’s educational expenses have provided the means for control. We have the ultimate Pavlov’s dog syndrome at work.

Once the states became dependent on subsidies from the federal government, it was an easy step to mandate what the states could or should do with such funds. Many states quickly embraced the condition of subservience and have never recovered. Couple this with the National Education Association, the most powerful union in the country with unparalleled lobbying power and money, and you have a stranglehold on American education.

No wonder our students are so poorly educated in our government schools. It is not the teachers' fault, it is the bureaucratic leadership. And the manner in which this has all been accomplished puts most of it beyond the voters' control.

Neither the Department of Education nor the National Association of Education reports to or is responsible to Congress or the voters. Authorization for either one cannot be found in the Constitution, no matter how far you stretch the meaning of ‘general welfare.’

How to correct this situation? Only Congress and the voters can do so. The voters must realize that the problem with education is not the teachers but the bureaucracy controlling them. To put the situation right means voting to disband the Department of Education and outlaw teachers unions.

This would mean returning to the states and parents the control of education. Federal subsidies would then be eliminated and we would return to an educational system where parents accept responsibility for the education and training of their children. The present path leads only to socialism and state dictation of every aspect of a person's life. The founding fathers would be appalled at what we have allowed to happen.

The Constitution was written in simple, plain language to make it possible for all to comprehend and appreciate its meaning, as well as its provisions. The Bill of Rights is primarily a negative addition stating categorically what the government may not do. And, as a good friend has pointed out, the 10th amendment puts the cap on it by almost literally saying, "if we have forgotten anything, the government cannot do that either."

Most of our elected officials seem to have forgotten their oath of office and believe they can do anything they want. They have forgotten or ignored the fundamental purposes of the American government as set forth in the Constitution.

The document was not designed to create an all-powerful central government. It did not intend for government to become our nanny. It did not provide for the taking of money through taxes from the citizens and then giving it to other countries under the guise of foreign aid. Nor did it include any provisions for the transfer of the wealth or possessions of one individual to another regardless of how needy or deserving that other individual might be in the eyes of congress. Far from it.

Rather, it was designed to create a government with severely limited powers, only those absolutely necessary to fulfill the commitment of the Declaration of Independence with respect to the unalienable rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and nothing more.

We were given a republic: a government of laws, not men. We were to choose representatives who would live up to their oath of office, not succumb to every giveaway scheme that might enhance personal prestige or wealth.

In short, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence should be required reading for every citizen at least once a year. Have you read them lately?

That's my view. What's yours? I can be reached at
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